D&D 5E Why does Invisibility work against undead?

[SkidAce]

Re: How Skeletons are animated;

In my campaigns, summoned shadows are bound into the frame of the skellies. Really, its RP cause nothing but a controlling intelligence transfers over, but it did give me some opportunity to crate unique skeletons that retained some of the shadows abilities.

And, they both share darkvison 60'.

 

[jgsugden]

I'm curious why you didn't use the old 1e ultravision- you know, see outside in the dark?

It has been a long time since these vision types were assembled, but IIRC, a player at the game was critical of the ultravision in the books from a real world perspective, it overlapped with infra vision enough that we did not need it, and there was an RP need for what became ultravision.

 

[knasser]

By RAW, undead have functionally the same vision as humans. It might not be identical (perhaps it is akin to the world Frodo perceived while wearing the one ring) but it is equivalent (not giving them any advantage in detecting invisible creatures). You could change that, but in common media zombies and skeletons are generally not portrayed as being difficult to hide from. Therefore, if you change this basic assumption, you should probably let players know in advance.

Oh, Hell no! Why would I do that? Imagine the fun when a PC turns invisible and cockilly strolls through a bunch of skeletons. And their skulls all turn to follow her. Bonus points if you can contrive it so that only the party hiding in the shadows at the back notice the skulls turning. For example, there's a hall with priceless doohicky on a pedestal at the end and the skeletons all lined up parade style either side of the aisle. The PCs can't call out to warn their friend without revealing themselves as well. Sooooo creepy and if the player complains well, just ask them why they think invisibility would affect a skeleton in the first place!

There are many ways a DM can kill PCs, but there's no weapon more choice than the players' own assumptions.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Oh, Hell no! Why would I do that? Imagine the fun when a PC turns invisible and cockilly strolls through a bunch of skeletons. And their skulls all turn to follow her. Bonus points if you can contrive it so that only the party hiding in the shadows at the back notice the skulls turning. For example, there's a hall with priceless doohicky on a pedestal at the end and the skeletons all lined up parade style either side of the aisle. The PCs can't call out to warn their friend without revealing themselves as well. Sooooo creepy and if the player complains well, just ask them why they think invisibility would affect a skeleton in the first place!

There are many ways a DM can kill PCs, but there's no weapon more choice than the players' own assumptions.

For the same reason that a player who has never held a sword before can play a fighter who knows which end of the sword to hold.

The player has not spent the majority of his time studying wizardry, but his wizard character most certainly has. It's fairly reasonable that the character would have come across this fact in his studies, particularly while researching the Invisibility spell.

If you create a special type of skeleton that sees invisible creatures, that's one thing, but to alter the rules and say that all undead ignore invisibility (without informing the players) is a 'gotcha'. It's in no way fair, because the player made a reasonable assumption but gets punished for it.

You, as the DM, can create a world where strange physics or magic results in swords that can only be held by the blade. If you don't inform the players and one player says, "I grab the hilt of my sword and prepare to draw it" and you reply "Haha, take 1d8 damage because in this world you have to hold the sword by the blade" the player is going to be justifiably like "What the hell!?".

It's not clever to use reasonable assumptions against your players. IMO, it's cheap and results in a game that slows to a crawl as the players try to guess where the DM 'gotcha' is going to come from next.

 

[pukunui]

By RAW, undead have functionally the same vision as humans. It might not be identical (perhaps it is akin to the world Frodo perceived while wearing the one ring) but it is equivalent (not giving them any advantage in detecting invisible creatures).

Possibly not the best example, since the One Ring did allow Frodo to see invisible creatures: the Ringwraiths!

 

[Fanaelialae]

Possibly not the best example, since the One Ring did allow Frodo to see invisible creatures: the Ringwraiths!

The Ringwraiths weren't truly invisible. Anyone and everyone could perceive them. It's simply that wearing the One Ring allowed Frodo to see their true forms.

 

[pukunui]

The Ringwraiths weren't truly invisible. Anyone and everyone could perceive them. It's simply that wearing the One Ring allowed Frodo to see their true forms.

Having just re-read the Lord of the Rings, I can assure you that the Ringwraiths themselves were invisible. It's just that they didn't get the whole "anything you are wearing or carrying is invisible with you" clause, so people could see their shapes when they were clothed and such. If they'd gone around naked, no one would've known they were there.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Having just re-read the Lord of the Rings, I can assure you that the Ringwraiths themselves were invisible. It's just that they didn't get the whole "anything you are wearing or carrying is invisible with you" clause, so people could see their shapes when they were clothed and such. If they'd gone around naked, no one would've known they were there.

In theory, sure, but in effect they weren't. AFAIK they never went around unclothed and it's unclear if they could even do so (perhaps their clothing is what allowed them to interact with the physical world, and removing it would have rendered them impotent).

Their invisibility was similar, in spirit, to the old Invisible Ring gag magic item (when you put it on, the ring turns invisible but you don't). If you're invisible but your clothes aren't (and you don't/can't remove your clothing) then you aren't functionally invisible because everyone can still effectively see you.

 

[gyor]

Skeletons might not have eyes, but they still absorb photons to see.

 

[Caliban]

It doesn't work against undead. They all know exactly where you are, but consider it rude to break the illusion. They are very polite that way.